Los Angeles-based six-piece Dengue Fever play an interesting and assorted blend of Cambodian inspired pop music, directed by their multi-cultural make-up and driven by a darker psychedelic undercurrent which rattles the chord changes and adds colour to the arrangements. Their latest album, Venus On Earth, is epic, much like the Playlist of Paul Smith, the band’s drummer and producer.
Fela Kuti / Expensive Shit
It seems fitting with the economy lumbering and prices on the rise. It has that eternal dance feel that can’t help but bring about hope. Great horn lines, great rhythm. We could use a Fela Kuti-like presence in America right now.
Portishead / Threads
A dark track with Mitch Mitchell-like lazy drums. It’s the audio equivalent of taking Vicoden. The chorus is ‘I’m always so unsure’. For a Libra this a bit of a recurring theme, so, I’m definitely relating. Good spooky outro as well.
Charles Mingus / Haitian Fight Song
One of my favorite bass lines ever. This song evolves in such a wonderful way. So much energy captured on tape. Mingus seems to know how to pull something deep out of his musicians, even if he does yell at them afterward. This track might be my desert island pick.
Roy Ayers / Everyone Loves The Sunshine
Anytime I’m driving and the sun is out I start thinking about this song. It makes you wanna reach for your smoking paraphernalia (if you do that sort of thing). This brings back a lot of memories, so listen to it and see if you can remember what I was doing back in the day.
The Roots / The Seed 2.0
This song features Cody Chestnut on vocals. Black-thought sounds tighter than normal over this rhythm. Impregnating music and calling the baby rock n’ roll, that’s a concept for a song. This song pops up in weird places because it seems to cross boundaries a bit.
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Donna Summer / I Feel Love
We are covering this song for a bonus track so I have been listening to it for that reason. But then I started listening for a different reason. It’s good. A true reflection of the disco scene and the feel of that time. Here come the synths and drum machines.
Gnarls Barkley / Blind Mary
Who doesn’t love being in love with blind women? The track feels good in that 60s bubblegum pop sort of way. It’s the mix of genres that Danger Mouse and Cee Lo are so good at.
David Bowie / Sound and Vision
This one is from the album Low. It’s an amazing album that was ahead of its time. The production is different due to Brian Eno’s participation. There’s distortion on the drums that gives them this crackling sound that I dig. Great melody.
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